Shadowing Practice: How To Effectively Leverage Skip Level 1 1s - Learn English Speaking with Video

One thing that happens pretty frequently at these tech companies, especially big tech companies, is a skip level one -on -one, which basically means you don't talk to your direct manager, you talk to their manager.

So you know, someone who's kind of two steps removed.

So I'm curious, in these skip level one -on -ones, what have you seen as the most effective way to take advantage of that time with this skip level?

From the perspective of the engineer, I think one of the best uses at the time is

that you can take it as an opportunity to try to understand the broader strategy of the company

or the broader strategy of the organization that you're a part of.

One question that you can try asking at your skip level to try to get

that is to just ask them what their priorities are, right?

Ask them like, hey, what are the top three things

that you're working on as the skip level and person who's responsible for this organization?

What are the things that you think are going really well for the organization?

What are the things that are keeping you up because you think that they're not going very well for the organization?

And I think

that all of it is meant to help engineers build a better understanding of the strategy around the product

and the business that they're a part of.

And so hopefully when it comes time to you making technical choices in your job as an engineer, you'll have a better frame of reference for making those tradeoffs.

Totally.

And actually, I think it goes back also to this idea about a nose for impact, right?

If your skip level manager says, hey, here are my top three or four priorities, and you can't draw a line from the stuff that you're working on to one of those three things, you're probably not working on the right thing.

So yeah, I'm also curious about how, is there an opportunity or a place in a skip level one -on -one to basically provide a status update and say,

hey, here are the challenges that I'm facing on my team, or maybe with my own manager, is that appropriate ever in a skip level?

So I would say there's two things that maybe are a little counterintuitive, but I really encourage with skip level one -on -ones.

And one is be candid.

There's no need for you to try to impress your skip level.

There's honestly not much value in that. If anything, I think the best way to for both people to get

good value out of the time is for you to give a really honest view

because one reality for skip level one -on -ones is

that they operate oftentimes at an altitude where they have blind

spots you know there are some things about their organization

that they just don't see because they're not in the day -to -day work right

and so you as the engineer

if you're able to you know give concrete examples of interesting things

that they should be aware of i think that's something

that they would really value and then the second part of this

that i would say is um you know be willing to challenge their ideas uh i i can tell you

that in the skip level conversations

that i've had where i was a skip level um those

were actually always the most interesting conversations to me uh when

when my ideas were challenged and and the reason I say that is because,

you know, I care a lot about the whole team being bought into what we're doing, right?

And if I say something that an engineer that I really respect calls BS on, I think there's a pretty good chance that,

you know, at face value, there are other engineers on the team that would call BS on it as well, right?

And so like, as the skip level, I want diagnose that.

I want to get to the root cause of why there's disagreement.

Maybe it's that I didn't explain my point of view or the company's point of view well enough in a particular situation, but I could also be wrong.

I think getting a different perspective, an honest perspective, especially from an engineer that I really trust, that's some of the most valuable time that I can spend.

Totally.

And I feel like the other aspect is that, you know, the skip level managers probably happen infrequently, but they're not happening on a weekly or bi -weekly basis.

They might happen once a month or once every quarter.

And so I imagine that that's super valuable, not only for you as a skip level, but also as an ISEE to get that broader perspective.

Yeah.

I think so.

You know, it's because it's a relatively rare perspective that you get, you know, it's, there are ways in which I think

that time can be used in a way that's really effective

and and it really all just comes down to being forthcoming with each other about what you see

✨ Recommend Video

372

28 sentences

Weekly Team Meeting: Project Status Update

Business EnglishWorking Adults

406 sentences

How to Become the Most Successful Sales Engineer at Your Company

Business EnglishWorking Adults

307 sentences

The New AI prompting Method Everyone Is Talking About: Loops (And How To Use Them)

Business EnglishWorking Adults

74 sentences

Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This speaking lesson is built on the video “How To Effectively Leverage Skip Level 1 1s”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: skip, engineer, perspective, organization, manager. This video has 56 sentences and 866 words to shadow. The speech runs for 4:37. The speaker talks fast, about 187 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 88% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow. 9 of its 56 sentences are questions, so it is good practice for question intonation and short answers.

Key vocabulary in this video

15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
skip verb	/skɪp/	To move by hopping on alternate feet.
curious adjective	/ˈkjʊɹ.i.əs/	Tending to ask questions, or to want to explore or investigate; inquisitive; (with a negative connotation) nosy, prying.
priority noun	/pɹaɪˈɒɹɪti/	An item's relative importance.
encourage verb	/ɪnˈkʌɹ.ɪd͡ʒ/	To mentally support; to motivate, give courage, hope or spirit.
concrete adjective	/ˌkɑnˈkɹit/	Real, actual, tangible.
aspect noun	/ˈæspɛkt/	Any specific feature, part, or element of something.
impress verb	/ɪmˈpɹɛs/	To affect (someone) strongly and often favourably.
altitude noun	/ˈælt.ɪˌtjuːd/	The absolute height of a location, usually measured from sea level.
forthcoming adjective	/fɔɹθˈkʌmɪŋ/	Approaching or about to take place.
disagreement noun	/dɪsəˈɡɹiːmənt/	An argument or debate.
candid adjective	/ˈkæn.dɪd/	Impartial and free from prejudice.
counterintuitive adjective	/ˌkaʊntəɹɪnˈtuɪtɪv/	Contrary to intuition or common sense.
diagnose verb	/ˈdaɪ.əɡˌnoʊs/	To determine which disease is causing a sick person's signs and symptoms; to find the diagnosis.
infrequently adverb	/ɪnˈfɹiːkwənt.li/	Not frequently.
oftentimes adverb	/ˈɔf.ənˌtaɪmz/	Frequently; often.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Meaning
come down to verb	To reach by moving down or reducing.
go back verb	To return to a place or state after having been there at a previous time.

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	is meant · were challenged · being bought
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	have you seen · i've had

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 19 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, they're, I'm. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

Long words — get the stress right: priority /pɹaɪˈɒɹɪti/, disagreement /dɪsəˈɡɹiːmənt/, counterintuitive /ˌkaʊntəɹɪnˈtuɪtɪv/, infrequently /ɪnˈfɹiːkwənt.li/

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like skip, curious, priority.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

Shadowing Practice: How To Effectively Leverage Skip Level 1 1s - Learn English Speaking with Video

Weekly Team Meeting: Project Status Update

How to Become the Most Successful Sales Engineer at Your Company

The New AI prompting Method Everyone Is Talking About: Loops (And How To Use Them)

The 1% Rule

Genuine advice for a line manager

Introducing: Company Knowledge

My Experience as a Tech Lead

6 Tips to Prepare for a 1:1 Meeting With Your Boss

How to organize and present your design explorations for feedback

5 Strategies Of A Successful Project Engineer

Why Every Question Is A Gift

Episode 531: Shallow feedback and my coworker is a huge sloperator

Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

Key vocabulary in this video

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Grammar in this video

Pronunciation to watch

How to practise with this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?